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Dunkleosteus
'Dunkleosteus' (name meaning "''Dunkle's Bones") is a genus of arthrodire placoderm fish that originated during the Devonian era in what is now Africa, Europe, and North America. Measuring over 9 meters long and weighing around 5 tons, this heavily-armored carnivorous fish was the largest and apex predator in its ecosystem of the Devonian seas. In the episode "Amphibians & Armored Fish", a single Dunkleostues was brought back to the park from 360 million years ago. It resides in the marine exhibit of the park. Facts Era & Discovery Dunkleosteus lived during the Late Devonian era from 382–358 million years ago, living alongside animals like Stethacanthus, Hyneria, and even other armored-plated fish. After thriving more than 50 million years as the apex predator in the Devonian Seas, the entire class of placoderms, Dunkleosteus included, disappeared. While Dunkleosteus was first discovered in 1873, it was named in the year 1956 in honor of paleontologists David Dunkle, then curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, hence its name meaning, "Dunkle's Bones". Numerous fossils of some species have been found in North America, Poland, Belgium, and Morocco. Physical Attributes The largest and apex predator of its time, Dunkleosteus was a massive animal; a real leviathan that measured over 30 feet (9 m) in length and would have weighed at least 4–5 tons (8,000–11,000 lbs.), the weight of two to three elephants, give or take. It had two pairs of large and powerful fins. On its back was a short albeit long-running dorsal fin. It also had a thick and withstanding armor-plated head. The rest of its body was bare flesh. Its jaws were powerful and were lined with teeth-like bony plates which were used to shear off chunks of meat and to crush bone. Dunkleosteus also had large, blue eyes. These creatures had a fearsome head, which also shows the classic features of Dunkleosteus. They had very thick and protective armor plating on the front of their bodies on the heads, up to over two inches thick and only the first half of their bodies were covered with that. Additionally, it was also what was in its mouth that is horrific. Rather than having teeth, Dunkleosteus possessed extensions of its jawbones. They were for shearing prey and these animals have to punch through other armored fish and those jaws were backed up by powerful mussels at the back of the neck. They had these massive jaws with big sharp shears sticking out. They sliced them together in a similar fashion to scissors, the action of slicing them together keeps them sharp and with that, these giant armored fish could cut through anything. Behavior & Traits Dunkleosteus was a solitary but titanic predator, in fact, it was the largest predator in the Devonian period. What made it so powerful was its protective armor plating and its powerful jaws which contained several, teeth-like bony plates. These plates were used to grind and shear off pieces of flesh. 1000px-SM102Dunkleosteus33.jpg|Dunkleosteus spitting out its food 1000px-SM102Dunkleosteus22.jpg|Dunkleosteus eating its own kind Because of its strong jaws, Dunkleosteus could bite through armor-plating as strong as chainmail. However, they couldn't digest those parts and would regurgitate the plates as well as any other inedible parts of its prey's anatomy. Therefore, Dunkleosteus, similar to modern-day anaconda's, spit up their food. Rather than being sick, Dunkleosteus, as a predatory fish that feeds on armored food, needs to get rid of the indigestible bits and it was perfectly normal...for 360 million years ago. Due to the other lethal competition in the Devonian seas, Dunkleosteus would kill anything that got in its way. This even included its own kind, even if it was just a juvenile Dunkleosteus. As a result, Dunkleosteus was not just predatory; they were often cannibalistic as well. Journal Entry Gallery 1000px-SM102Dunkleosteus15.jpg 1000px-SM102Dunkleosteus19.jpg|Baby Dunkloesteus ImagesCAU5YMRK.jpg|The fearsome head of Dunkleosteus imagesCAS81G10.jpg Dunkleosteus.png asdf.jpg 556aee0d49d5c15a9d90fea3642330c25593176b.jpg 27a2edfad4738827fa5430bc82a7610cb536c943.jpg Trivia *The Dunkleosteus portrayed in the series is larger than its real-life counterpart. In reality, as opposed to 30 ft. (9 m) long and 5 tons in weight, Dunkleosteus grew now larger than 19 ft. (6 m) and weighed 1 ton at most. Category:Prehistoric Animals Category:Fish Category:Sea Monsters Category:Devonian animals Category:Monsters (Life Before Dinosaurs) Category:Sea Creatures Category:Creature of Interest Category:Carnivores Category:Apex Predators Category:Placoderm